New Delhi: Lawyers from the district courts decided on Saturday to roll back their decision to abstain from work in protest against the shifting of the judges of the 34 digital Negotiable Instruments Act courts to the Rouse Avenue courts.A statement released by the All District Courts Bar Association of Delhi on Saturday said that the lawyers’ coordination committee met the chief justice of Delhi High Court and was assured that all digital courts would function strictly as digital platforms only. The remaining proceedings and judicial work only would be conducted in the regular local courts, the statement said.“Necessary directions are being issued to all presiding officers instructing them not to insist on the physical appearance of any stakeholders, including parties, counsel, police officers, etc, in c+ourt,” the statement added.On May 30, high court chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya inaugurated the 34 digital courts at the Rouse Avenue Courts complex to hear cases under the NI Act. Only judges of these courts will operate from Rouse Avenue, while the staff —readers, ahlmads and stenographers — will operate from their respective districts. The association on Friday, June 6 decided to abstain from work opposing the decision of shiftingthecourts.The digital courts deal with cases related to cheque bounces across six court complexes. The Lok Sabha was informed by the Union law minister in Dec 2024 that Delhi ranked fourth among top five Indian states with regard to NI Act cases and has 4.5 lakh pending cases. A judge in a NI Act court, on average, holds 80 hearings every day. According to the National Judicial Data Grid, until June 7, there were 15.1 lakh cases, of which 31% were cheque bounce cases.Last year, advocate Jagriti Jain filed a public interest litigation, highlighting administrative lapses in the digital NI Act court in North district. The petition pointed out the huge pendency of cases as well as connectivity problems of the portal used for digital hearings.In April 2024, a division bench comprising then acting chief justice Manmohan and justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed steps to be taken to address the issue of digital connectivity and network problems. On May 22 this year, the bench disposed of the Jain’s PIL, noting that connectivity issues had been resolved after the registrar general of the high court submitted a report on May 9 outlining the remedial measures taken. A second digital NI Act court was established in the North district and all pending matters were evenly distributed between the two courts.Advocate Parthesh Bhardwaj, who appeared for Jain, told TOI, “As of June, with multiple functioning courts, better cause list management and strengthened technical infrastructure, the average time between hearings at digital NI Act courts in all districts has significantly reduced.”
